The posifrikentivity graduates thread - we did it!!

[IBelieveInPink]

Finally enough graduates (with more very imminently expected) to have our very own little thread. Yay. :)

Hello lovely mummies :) wows it's been a crazy couple of days!! Still totally bowled over by the whole thing! They kept me in a second night as they were v keen for me to get the BF established which was great as he was being quite fussy and interested but not latching on, we're getting there slowly. But then when doing his final check today before getting ready for home, they noticed his little belly button was a bit red and they think it might be getting an infection so onto antibiotics and they need to keep us in for another 48hrs which is a pisser but I would freak our at home if I noticed it so I guess it's best for all. Would have just lived to have got him home today though. But the days are going quickly so hopefully Sunday won't be too long a wait. And the jelly and ice cream are good so I have that for dessert at lunch and tea :)

Will fill you all in with the gory details of labour when I'm home and have my laptop, I think I'm going to wear away the screen of my phone typing!!

But we are great and he's the most scrummy thing in the world, with inch long dark hair and little fluffy shoulders!

Hope you are well, I'll be back soon to read through everything I've missed!!

Big love to you all and all your bundles!!

ibip we have a Ewan the Dream Sheep. It's equally awesome and is the same idea as the slumber bear. Saying that though, at the moment we're using the (free) sleepy sounds app.

pentagon bottle feeding formula now after expressing for the first month. I tried breastfeeding in recovery and got C to latch on (S had gone to NICU) but then when they were both in NICU they were tube fed and fed with cups and given pacifiers and I never managed it again
In retrospect it's been a good thing I think. Other people can feed them for me and they're used to other people feeding them. Feeding them together is awful. I hate it. In bed at night is easiest; I prop them up against a really sturdy pillow. During the day it's car seats or bouncy chairs. Bumbos soon though!!

Oh and pentagon the FB group is from the MN September AN thread. We got to the point where we wanted to share photos etc and it was easier. It's completely private and hidden from search I think. I don't really use MN that often now as a result. I've met lots of lovely people in real life now as well!

Hope you are home on Sunday Janie and Leo's infection clears quickly.
Andadietcoke- huge respect to you with twins, one is exhausting enough!!

We have a Shaun the sheep but not using it yet really.
Alex feeds himself to sleep mostly or just falls asleep after a cuddle.
It's been such a happy 12 days with him but dreading my husband going back to work on Monday.
He has a heart murmur so we are getting that checked again on Monday and hope it's gone otherwise it will be more tests and checks.
I need to write. 2x 2500 word uni essays in the next 8 days, bloody crazy, everytime I sit down I fall asleep on the sofa, even bought a MacBook to encourage me but nothing written yet !! Bugger!!!

Have a lovely weekend with your babies ladies. Xx

Jmf- as this is your third and you are clearly now an expert ;) can you tell me- does it matter at this stage how they get to sleep? Imogen feeds to sleep, or like you say needs to be lying on one of us. (Which is a nightmare combined with expressing!). Some stuff I read says this is bad and they should learn to settle themselves. Some stuff says they are too young to settle themselves and it is not habit forming yet so not a problem. What do you think?

Ou good question Pink. Charlotte also feeds or cuddles to sleep. With my DS I tried to follow a routine out of a book bit ended up so stressed and with depression! This time I'm just going with the flow but am hopefully notaking a rod for my own back! I'm liking the sound of the slumber bear / dream sheep.

lucky and ibip not an expert, but from my experience it hasn't broken them. They used to feed to sleep exclusively, now they'll settle on their own. The cues get easier to spot though. There's something about getting them down by the third yawn that someone has mentioned to me - think it's the baby whisperer book, which I own but have never had time to open!

Meh. Well this is day 3 of a feed at 1am or thereabouts after it being 2 or 3 since October. Bloody 12 week growth spurt. Have jabs on Monday just to upset everything as well. Yay.

Pink do whatever feels right for you. I've never been able to leave them to cry themselves to sleep, some people are made of stronger stuff and can! I don't think it matters this early but I probably should have sorted something as DD now won't fall asleep without one of us at night time (but do you know what, I love being there when she falls asleep and getting her extra sleepy cuddles and it's our quiet time - she's 2yr6mth though so a long way off newborn!)

DS had his heel prick and weigh in today he has already gained 8 oz! Fatty!

Janie Leo sounds gorgeous with his long hair - yum! Getting home will be lovely but you are in the right place for now and your DH can get some extra zzzzzz's!

Good answers, thank you ladies. I suspected she was a little young to settle herself to sleep - like you say garden I can't just leave her to cry! Well, I don't mind for a few minutes while getting a bottle or something, but at the moment she just seems too little.

DH has just earned himself some mega husband points. He just offered to do the feed while I expressed. Which cuts an hour off my awake time. Yay!

Diet- I really don't know how you manage with 2!! I feel like this little one is constantly one step ahead of me, you are one very impressive mummy surviving with 2!!

Lucky - taking it as it comes sounds like a much better idea if a routine stressed you. I changing my mind daily at the moment, one minute I think I could handle routine, the next I think better to be guided by her. I guess in the end as long as she happy and fed there is no correct way and both would probably work, I just need to chill out a bit about how we get to the end result! :)

Pink- I wouldn't say I ' man expert as every baby is different but I 'd just say do what works for you, ignore unhelpful advice and enjoy and relax as much as you can .
Alex feeds himself to sleep often but I'm not going to wake him . Cuddle them as much as you want to as they grow so fast.
With my first I read Gina Ford- all about routine and getting them sleeping well. She advocates getting the baby up at 7an, I did that for 2 days then I realised that for me it was nonsense, I like to have a vague structure of routine but I'm not putting myself under pressure to do it strictly.

How are all you lovely ladies? Typically my gorgeous girlie had slept the majority of the afternoon and evening and the moment we come upstairs to be she opens her eyes! Not sure how much sleep is on the cards tonight!
JMF I think I tries a routine like that with DS then I got to a point and I was thinking why am I getting up when I don't have to! He was a really fussy baby to. DD seems much more chilled. Long may it last!
Feeding is seeming slightly easier bit still have a lot to learn and I'm far from being a natural at it. She has been gaining weight though so is obviously getting what she needs. Took her out in the pram for the first time today. I was becoming a bot of a hermit!

Hey ladies! we're finally home! Thank god!! Haven't had a chance to catch up but looks like there are loads of good tips that I need to know about! Will hopefully get a good catch up tmro when I hand the reigns over to dh for an hour or so! Can't wait to be able to share the baby chores!!

In the meantime, I hope you are all really well and your babies are being squidgely nice to you xxxx

Jmf - I can't get my head round the whole 'waking the baby' thing either. Just doesn't seem right. I have been doing as you suggest and having lots of cuddles all weekend :)

Lucky - did you get any sleep? :) I have also been a bit if a hermit. Got to the stage where I was a bit scared to go out, so just gritted my teeth and did it. Felt amazing! We are going to try and go out at least 3 weekdays a week now. Just to make sure I don't go insane!

Janie- great to hear you are home! How's everything going? How has DH been with you and baby? Has it all sunk in yet? :)

Argh. Now I've got a really sore throat. No idea if they've had it already and given it to me or if they're going to get it next. Just when they seemed to be getting better. 12 week jabs today (two weeks late). Dreading them. Last time they were just sleepy and cuddly (and it was actually quite nice having a good night's sleep ) so I can't be that lucky again, especially as they're being done on the same day this time and I'm on my own tomorrow so it will be hell

ibip yes - get out! Even if it's just for a walk around the block. It will do both of you good to get some fresh air. Company is better though! Have you met anyone close by with a baby a similar age?

Right, should get back to sleep and see how long the little darlings let me have this time. I miss my one feed a night babies. Bloody 12 week growth spurt!!

As anda hope your sore throat doesn't develop into anything nasty.

Going stir crazy, Leo has been on the book since just after 9pm, other than a quick bath. So 6 hours. Is this normal?! On day 5/6. I've tried but failed at the side lying

As soon as we wake tmro I'm sending dh to buy an electric pump. I can't do this again tmro night, I'm seeing stars

Diet - hope you feeling better lovely. Can't imagine how you do it anyway, poorly twins is just an idea that I can't even entertain!

I made it out today! Literally just down to the vets for cat food, still felt like an achievement.
Also popped into tescos for wrapping paper (that I went to supermarket to get at weekend and although bought the world, forgot to get the thing I went for!) however Imogen kicked off as soon as we got in there and I got so flustered I just grabbed whatever was there. So we have red and gold wrapping with silver tags. Heathens. But at least I feel more Christmassy now :)

Janie- poor you that sounds horrific. Imogen did that, but was on day 2/3 so when she was trying to make my milk come in. Have you had that yet, or could it be that delayed? It only lasted one day if it might be that.
If you do buy a pump, that you are intending using for any amount of time, spend as much as you can on a good one! We have the medela swing, which is fab, but now I am spending the amount of time I am on it, I wish I had realised so we could have got a double or rented a hospital grade one first.

Aside from that, could you just try settling him now? He must be full after 6 hours, and just feeding for comfort?

Sorry - didn't mean that last but to sound patronising. Just when I was having all my issues, Imogen fed for about 4 hours straight which made me so sore. Midwife said after the event, I shouldn't have let her do that, as it meant we struggled to get back to it. Where as I thought I had to just let her have what she wanted. Just meant is taking him off an option, you really don't want nipples like I had!

Hey Janie He's using your boob as a dummy for comfort. Apologies if you know this but there are a couple of things you can look for when they are on the boob to distinguish whether they are actually eating, you can look down at their throat and see them swallow and there is a little muscle in their temple that twitches. If they are just using you as a dummy you won't see these. Personally I wouldn't go for the pump straight away - it's a lot of work as pink will testify! Try latching him on, look for signs that he's feeding give him a fair bit of time (on each boob if he wants), mine can go on and off for up to an hour sometimes. Once he's fed get him off the boob which you can do by breaking the seal by putting your little finger in the corner of his mouth. Then wind him, change his nappy (only if necessary) and settle him for a sleep or better still hand him over to your other half to wind him and get him to sleep. He'll probably want feeding every 2-3 hrs so it can be a bit relentless at first but it's whilst they are small and it establishes the milk supply. It may also be worth finding your local breast feeding 'people', if you ring your midwife team or the number you were given by the hospital for midwife contacts they will be able to point you in the right direction. It really is worth trying to get help to resolve it rather than going straight to pumping. The first couple of weeks breast feeding are really hard but it does settle I promise.
Hope I don't sound patronising or like the bf Gestapo, just trying to give some pointers xxx

4 in our bed at the mo, me n DP, bubbs n DS - bit of a squeeze!

Agree with garden. If I could have done it the traditional way I would, pumping is an effort! (And so undignified- just call me daisy!)

Thank you so much girls, your advice as always is so much appreciated. And in nooooo way patronising at all. I am so grateful for your wisdom and tips!

He eventually went down. He just wouldn't settle if he wasn't on the boob. Garden I too wondered was he just using me as a dummy but my boobs were emptying so I'm assuming he was. Would giving him a dummy this early be terrible?

I've discovered a bf support group this morning at my local library so going to try to get ready in time for that. I assume I can just turn up.

Thanks for the pump advice also, I know I'll want one in the long run so might do a bit of looking, not necessarily to use at every feed but I think it'll be worthies weighting gold eventually. Pink my friend gave me her Medela Swing bit there's a little white membrane missing from the connection and it doesn't seem to work. It's about 7yrs old I think and just couldn't get it to work properly

I'm dreading tonight!! I think I need to try to keep him awake during the day somehow as he does seem to sleep all day and go to dinner parties all night

Thank you again girls, and thank The Lord for lansinoh! Xxxx

You can buy the little white membrane from amazon. £6 for a pack of them, I bought some thus morning as DH broke one last night (luckily there was a spare included!!)

And as for using a dummy thus early - I have. She is Also a VERY sucky baby, and it really calms her. No harm in it I think :)

Oh awesome pink. I wonder if any shops like boots do them hmmm.

Right I think a dummy could be in order too. My mum put me on one from a week old and it did me no harm.

Breastfeeding group was brilliant, met some really lovely mums and they were such a help, really to make me feel assured that everything that is happening is pretty normal! Will definitely be going back, got some nice new RL friends I think :)

Aw yay Janie, I'm pleased.

So can we talk about baby poo? What's normal? Mini pink has very runny poos. But they have been like this for days now, it hasn't just started. Is that normal or is that diarrhoea?
She seems fine otherwise and is still drinking buckets!

ibip runny/watery poo is very normal. There is not much for them to digest in breast milk. When you say it's been like this for days, what was it like before?

I'm glad you met some nice people janie, it's good to have people to chat to even if you're all doing completely different things.

Matilda is definitely snuffly from a cold, she's not too bad so far let's hope that's not famous last words!